Quote:
Originally Posted by MelBridgeman
Tariffs the latest boogie man...
When it comes to inflation and higher prices, the concern is food and energy costs, which the US is self sufficient in for the most part. So tarrifs will have little effect. Bring down energy costs and you bring down the cost of food and other things.
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They're not self-sufficient for food, as they import about 15% of their food supply. And for the food they produce in the US, they obviously rely on significant imports for machinery and fertilizer (over 20% of their fertilizer is imported). If you don't think tariffs on those items would put upwards pressure on food production prices, then you're mistaken. And of course you have to consider the possibility of mass deportations and how that may affect the input costs of an industry that has about 40% of its labor being undocumented workers.
As for energy, Trump didn't lower energy prices last time, so why would he now? The 3 years he was in power pre-COVID, oil prices were above they were in the years before he came to power:
2015: $48.68 average oil price
2016: $43.14
2017: $50.88
2018: $64.93
2019: $56.98
The real decline happened in late 2014, over 2 years before Trump came in to office.